Bands: Goda / Zarquum Split Tape. 1 comments

Click for a larger view.

1- I used to review and promote Zarquum here in this blog. And when was that? Last year. You can go and read the entry HERE. Well, after one year long over fucking due, they have finally able to release the split that I was talking about in my previous post about them. 

2- For your information, Zarquum (Technical Death Metal) and GODA (melodic death metal) consists mainly the same key individuals. Most probably wanting to try something new and different with each band, i guess. But it's worth the try man. I have always been impressed with Zarquum anyway.

3- What ever it is, the split release is called The Cryptic Aesthetic and it contains 6 songs, 3 from each bands respectively. If you are interested (and you should), do not hesitate to drop a bomb at farbeyondz@gmail.com or SMS to 016-8563002 to find out how to obtain a copy of the split.

Books: Hello Me Meet The Real Me: Mustaine - A Life in Metal. 3 comments

Hello Me Meet The Real Me: Mustaine - A Life in Metal by Dave Mustaine and Joe Layden.

Title: Hello Me Meet The Real Me: Mustaine - A Life in Metal
Authors: Dave Mustaine & Joe Layden.
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishing.
Additional Information: Hardcover, 346 Pages, RM 96.90, Kinokuniya Bookstore Kuala Lumpur.

1- I was super excited when I first heard that Mustaine will be writing and releasing his memoir and when it was released, I waited patiently for the book to hit the local shelves. When it did, I went to my favorite bookstore to purchase a copy of the book just to find out that it was sold out. Fuck! I guess Malaysians love their Megadeth. I got my copy only a few weeks later. It was never too late to enjoy a good dose of Dave Mustaine's arrogance in my book.

2- Let us move on to the contents of the book. It was written from a first person point of view thus you will have Mustaine narrating everything from top to bottom. The contents were divided into 17 chapters with the first two dealt with his background, his family and his early interest in music and guitar. 3 chapters were dedicated to his life when he was in Metallica and eventually ended up until he was booted out from the band. The rest of the book was about his revenge seeking in the form of Megadeth, rotating band members and his drug addiction.

3- Reading the book (and a couple more books on the history of hard rock and heavy metal) and from being an avid fan for so long, I just could not help but summarize that with out Mustaine, thrash metal would not be as it is today. Everybody recognize that the genre was pioneered by Metallica and of course there were more than a dozen guitar virtuosos that came after him in the likes of Scott Ian of Anthrax and Kerry King of Slayer, but it was Mustaine's furious guitar playing in No Life Till Leather that molded the basic template for thrash riffs in the 80's.

4- This is definitely a must.

Rants: Books On Malay Heavy Metal? 4 comments

1- How many books you think we have out there which deals with the Malaysian heavy bands or scene in general? None. Zilch. Nada. Why? Because Malaysians lack the interest to put things on record. "On record" here refers to readable materials i.e. books. Which is kinda pathetic and sad at the same time.

2- There are of course a few pages dedicated to Malaysian heavy metal in some magazines here and there but come on. 30 years of heavy metal in a couple of glossy pages, which most of the time, were not even written by heavy metal enthusiasts, is not enough. Mr. Abdul Aziz Ittar, you sir, need to do something about this.

3- Man, the history of Malaysian heavy metal is indeed a colorful and dramatic one and i bet that it would easily fit at least in a few hundred pages worth of readable materials. Why we Malaysians does not find it necessary to record it all in a proper book remains a mystery to me. Maybe due to the lack of interest to read.

4- If legendary Malaysian bands in the likes of Search, Wings and Cromok or even Sil Khannaz were formed in the United States, I bet there would be at least 4 or 5 books detailing the history of the band. Metallica alone have at least 4. The Beatles got hundreds of them. I believe that it will definitely sell at least couple of thousand copies if not more.

5- I found out just recently that Sweet Charity, a (considered) local hard rock band (credited as the first rock band in Malaysia/Singapore) released an autobiography about themselves. I think it is a good start. Even when Sil Khannaz (local Death Metal/Progressive Death Metal band) chose to release a rockumentary detailing their colorful history, I was in awe and made it a mission to go and buy the CD. And I did just that.

6- Dont you think its time we start recording some history of our own and bring the scene to a whole new level?